America’s aging population is increasing at alarming rates. As we are currently in a physician shortage, it is only a matter of time before there won’t be enough RNs available to keep up with the increasing demand. Nurses make up the largest segment in the healthcare sector, according to the American Nursing Association, and they are about to be stretched thin. Now is the time for solutions, especially those that make a nurse’s job easier and effective. The solution to effectiveness may be simpler than you think. But, what’s the solution? The Problem with Nurse Scheduling The quality of care, patient satisfaction, nurse burnout, and nurse morale are all in one way or another related to the effectiveness of nurse scheduling. Avantas, an AMN Healthcare Company, released a survey report that reveals that US nurse managers are not using nurse scheduling to its full potential, thus unraveling the previously listed issues. According to nurse managers from the survey agreed that nurse scheduling and staffing issues negatively affect nurse morale. In fact, almost 90% said that their nurses feel unappreciated. And due to short staffing, nurses on duty feel they are unable to provide the highest level care. Which sometimes leads them to fear that they are putting their licenses at risk. So, why are so many nurse managers struggling with nurse scheduling? Avantas’ survey revealed the surprising fact that a large number of nurse managers, one in four to be exact, use paper-based scheduling systems or no scheduling tools at all. A whopping 80% confessed they were unaware of scheduling and staffing software solutions. However, 43% of nurse managers with access to software solutions still used manual scheduling tools. Surveyed nurse managers seem to agree that understaffing, lack of specialty/experienced nurses, and last-minute schedule changes are their most common issues with nurse scheduling. Registered nurses, nurse and finance managers seemed to all agree that understaffing is the greatest issue that they face. More specifically, meeting nurse-to-patient ratios requirements. Software Solutions All of the issues nurse managers confessed to having in the survey are usually temporarily fixed with more hires, agency staffing, overtime, etc. Yet they can easily be solved with the application of scheduling and staffing software. And in the looming issue of the nurse shortage, they offer predictive analytics, which accurately predicts patient demand. Healthcare facilities that adopted software solutions reported...

When you think about the types of careers held by people with high standards for ethics and honesty, it’s no surprise that the care-giving and health fields are at the top of the list. However, once again, Gallup’s 2014 poll found that Americans view nurses as the most trustworthy profession—a higher ranking than given to medical doctors and pharmacists which tied for second. Periodically since 1976 and annually since 1990, Gallup has asked Americans to rate their perception of both ethics and honesty in different types of careers. Nurses were first included in the survey in 1999. For most of the new millennium, nurses have been rated at least “very high or high level of ethics and honesty” by 80% of individuals surveyed. In fact, in 2012 an applause-worthy 85% of Americans said they viewed nurses as at least a high level of trustworthiness. The only exception to this was in the early 2000’s when firefighters were included in the survey and it was in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. If nurses were voted extremely high on levels of trustworthiness, it was pretty predictable which professions Americans considered very unethical or dishonest. You may have guessed that car salesman and members of congress were among the bottom two trusted professions, respectively. People in fields like advertising, banking, business, and law also performed relatively low in their survey findings for trustworthiness. Nurses has consistently lead the pack in ratings of moral perceptions even beating out other professions like grade school teachers, daycare staff, and elder caregivers. It seems that none of the ratings significantly changed from their ratings in the previous few years. One interesting development that has emerged from the survey, however, is the drop law enforcement has seen in the past year. It seems that due to a lot of the media coverage in 2014 and events that unfolded have caused decreased levels of perceived honesty and ethics in police. Fewer nonwhite respondents were saying that they felt police officers had high levels of trustworthiness. Additionally, perhaps because of the Ebola scare that occurred this fall, there was a slight decrease in levels of overall trust this year as compared with last year’s results. And overall, there have not been any improvements in trustworthiness in any fields. Nurses even were a few percent down from 2013’s results....

America’s aging population is increasing at alarming rates. As we are currently in a physician shortage, it is only a matter of time before there won’t be enough RNs available to keep up with the increasing demand. Nurses make up the largest segment in the healthcare sector, according to the American Nursing Association, and they are about to be stretched thin. Now is the time for solutions, especially those that make a nurse’s job...

When you think about the types of careers held by people with high standards for ethics and honesty, it’s no surprise that the care-giving and health fields are at the top of the list. However, once again, Gallup’s 2014 poll found that Americans view nurses as the most trustworthy profession—a higher ranking than given to medical doctors and pharmacists which tied for second. Periodically since 1976 and annually...

Patricia Hickey, vice president of critical care, conducted a large-scale study from hospitals throughout the country and cardiovascular services at Boston Children’s Hospital, revealing that nurse education levels and experience quite significantly correlates with patient mortality. Another study was conducted at the Radboud University teaching hospital in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, with similar results as well. According to the...

By Christine Whitmarsh I recently had the opportunity to interview chief financial officers at several California hospitals for a magazine article I was writing. The subject of discussion was how the country’s, and specifically that state’s, economic challenges are affecting hospital bottom lines. One thing that struck me, and which as a nurse I definitely appreciated, was that regardless of the economic challenges their hospitals are...

A study published in late 2007 indicates that there is no basis for the perception among some healthcare industry professionals that travel nurses and other nurses considered “temporary nurses” do not provide the same quality of care as permanent nurses. The results of the study were published in the Journal of Nursing Administration. The study concluded that “nurses employed by staffing companies are as well or...

A survey conducted by AMN Healthcare and covered in the San Diego Business Journal indicates that nurses of the future, at least, will not be the money-grubbing healthcare prostitutes that some would have you believe they are. Apparently, working conditions are the priority for the 1,600 students that were surveyed. They want to work at a quality facility, have low nurse-to-patient ratios and reasonable hours and shifts. Pay was...